Conservation easements throughout the Lowcountry reflect an expanded, watershed-based focus for the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.

The trust protected 4,600 acres from development in 2011, Executive Director Patty Kennedy said last week at the organization’s annual meeting.

Recent preservation efforts in the Bluffton area include 170 acres of the New River headwaters and 2 acres on the Okatie River at Pinckney Colony.

Development rights on the New River property were acquired by the trust from landowners Joyce Crosby and Zeke Jordan; the easement off Pinckney Point Road was donated by Agnes F. Pinckney.

Kennedy said the trust has focused on the May and Okatie rivers in recent years. “We hold a handful of easements, about 100 acres, along the banks of the May River and it’s our aim to get all of them eventually,” she said. “We have numerous easements along the Okatie river as well.”

The Open Land Trust began more than 40 years ago as an effort to preserve scenic vistas in Beaufort, but it has expanded its mission to include all of Beaufort County and beyond. It has become a regional clearinghouse and title-holding company for owners who want to retain ownership but donate perpetual conservation easements.

“We’re expanding our scope outside Beaufort County to preserve land that directly affects those of us who live here,” Kennedy said. Some of the recent land trust acquisitions show a broader recognition of water quality issues in the Port Royal and St. Helena sounds that bookend Beaufort County, she said.

Regional acquisitions in 2011 include conservation easements on 795 acres in Barnwell County donated by Harry Haslam; 350 acres on the Edisto River in Colleton County donated by Dr. Bryan Green; and 336 acres at Cypress Bay in Hampton County donated by Dr. Skeet and Gale Burris.

In Beaufort County, the trust acquired easements on 800-acre Orange Grove Plantation, a 92-acre farm near Penn Center and 231 acres at Lands End Plantation, all on St. Helena Island; 1,529-acre Coosaw Plantation and 318 acres at Clarendon Plantation, both in northern Beaufort County; and 12 acres on the Beaufort River and 10 acres on Factory Creek, both on Lady’s Island.

Kennedy emphasized Open Land Trust partnerships with the federal departments of Agriculture and Defense in preserving rural farmland and preventing encroachment on the flight path around the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, respectively.

“Our effort to strategically buffer the Air Station is considered one of the most successful in the Department of Defense,” she said. “We can preserve land and they can keep jets in the air.”

The executive director also mentioned the trust’s partnership role as an administrative consultant to the Beaufort County Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program, which has preserved more than 20,000 acres since 2006.